Publications by authors named "Soong W"

The art of clinical negotiation is an important, yet underappreciated aspect of medicine. Key components of negotiation include the need to consider principles over personalities, to explore all options before deciding on the best course, to realize if consensus cannot be achieved then compromise may still be possible, to work from evidence to incorporate contextual factors, and to stay evidence based. These principles can be helpful in many settings, including contract negotiation, drug pricing, and research.

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  • The Measure Up 1, 2, and AD Up studies assessed the effectiveness and side effects of upadacitinib for treating atopic dermatitis in adolescents aged 12-17 over a period of 76 weeks, extending the research beyond the previously available 52-week data.
  • In a randomized clinical trial, participants received either upadacitinib (15 mg or 30 mg) or a placebo, with some receiving topical corticosteroids, allowing for varied analysis of its efficacy and safety.
  • Results showed that a significant percentage of adolescents achieved a major improvement in their condition, with 89.1%, 84.4%, and 87.8% meeting the criteria for reduction in severity, showcasing the medication
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Introduction: Patients with end-stage heart failure have limited options for medical treatment, and this ultimately necessitates heart transplantation. Patients undergoing heart transplant surgery are burdened with substantial costs related to finances, procedural risks, and postoperative quality of life. This report presents a case of heart failure in a patient whose limbs and heart were preserved through a collaboration between modern and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).

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Background: Post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC) affects patients after recovering from acute coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This study investigates the impact of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination on PASC symptoms in children in Taiwan during the Omicron pandemic.

Methods: We enrolled children under 18 years with PASC symptoms persisting for more than 4 weeks.

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  • * A randomized controlled study assessed the effectiveness of a Taiwanese version of PEERS® on 21 autistic adolescents, comparing outcomes between a treatment group and a delayed treatment control group.
  • * Results showed significant reductions in bullying, victimization, and social challenges, as well as improvements in social skills for those in the treatment group, indicating that the PEERS® program is highly effective for enhancing social communication among autistic adolescents.
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Tracheomalacia is a condition where the tracheal wall is abnormally soft and prone to collapse during increased respiratory efforts. Airway malacia can manifest as segmental conditions like laryngomalacia, tracheomalacia and bronchomalacia, or as diffuse conditions such as tracheobronchomalacia (TBM). Unlike long-segment congenital tracheal stenosis, where surgery may be the preferred treatment, the management of long-segment TBM remains controversial.

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The Prior Authorization Task Force of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI), a presidential initiative of David Khan, MD, FAAAI, was established to develop an AAAAI position statement outlining ways to improve health care for our patients, to support legislation that advocates for prior authorization (PA) reform and identify the impact PA has on its membership using a questionnaire survey. This article describes the results of this survey. An electronic anonymous survey questionnaire was developed to assess the impact and burden of PA on AAAAI members and their staff and patients.

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Purpose: Patients living with severe asthma (SA) experience multiple health-related quality of life (HRQoL) impairments. This study examined HRQoL changes after biologic treatment initiation among a large, real-world cohort of patients with SA.

Patients And Methods: CHRONICLE is an ongoing observational study of subspecialist-treated adults with SA who receive biologics or maintenance systemic corticosteroids or are uncontrolled on high-dosage inhaled corticosteroids with additional controllers.

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  • The LAVOLTA (L)I, LII, and ACOUSTICS trials tested the asthma treatment lebrikizumab, targeting IL-13, but previously showed mixed results due to patient selection issues.
  • The study aimed to analyze the effectiveness of lebrikizumab in patients with high blood eosinophil counts and a history of asthma exacerbations, focusing on a specific subpopulation for more accurate results.
  • Results indicated that lebrikizumab significantly reduced asthma exacerbation rates in both adults and adolescents with these criteria, and most side effects were mild or moderate.
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We reported a microfluidic system for sorting of extracellular vesicles (EVs), which can house DNAs, RNAs, lipids, proteins, and metabolites that are important in intercellular communication. Their presence within bodily fluids has demonstrated potential in both clinical diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Furthermore, EVs exhibit distinct subtypes categorized by their sizes, each endowed with unique biophysical properties.

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  • H1-antihistamines (H1AH) are commonly used to treat chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU), but about 50% of patients do not achieve adequate relief with standard doses.
  • A study analyzed data from over 17,000 CSU patients, finding that 86.9% were classified as non-responders, who had higher rates of comorbidities and healthcare visits compared to responders.
  • Factors predicting non-response included the type of treatment, the specialists patients visited, and certain health conditions like chronic pulmonary disease and depression.
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Sustained pharyngeal inflation (SPI) with pharyngeal oxygen flow and nasal closure (PhO2-NC) technique create positive inflation pressure in the airway. This study measured the peak inflation pressure (PIP) levels and image changes with SPI-assisted flexible bronchoscopy (SPI-FB) and compared the effects in the pharyngeal space and mid-tracheal lumen. This prospective study enrolled 20 participants aged 6 months to 3 years.

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Background: Patient adherence to biologic therapies is crucial for clinical benefits. Previous assessments of US patient adherence to severe asthma (SA) biologic therapies have relied on health care insurance claims data that have limitations.

Objective: To describe real-world, specialist-reported, biologic administration and adherence among US adults with SA.

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Chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) is a complex skin disease characterized by the spontaneous appearance of wheals, angioedema, or both, for more than 6 weeks. Many patients experience a relapsing-remitting disease course for years. Owing to the unpredictability of wheal recurrence and the severity of pruritis, patients suffer considerable impairment in their quality of life.

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Conventional residential electricity consumers are becoming prosumers who not only consume electricity but also produce it. This shift is expected to occur over the next few decades at a large scale, and it presents numerous uncertainties and risks for the operation, planning, investment, and viable business models of the electricity grid. To prepare for this shift, researchers, utilities, policymakers, and emerging businesses require a comprehensive understanding of future prosumers' electricity consumption.

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What Is This Summary About?: Atopic dermatitis (AD, also called atopic eczema) is a skin disease that that can affect a person for a long time and causes red or flaky skin that can be itchy and uncomfortable. Healthcare providers can prescribe medicated creams and ointments to reduce the visible signs and symptoms of AD, but these treatments are not always enough to keep it under control. A new medicine called abrocitinib is taken every day as a tablet.

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Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a heterogeneous inflammatory skin disease with different clinical phenotypes based on factors such as age, race, comorbidities, and clinical signs and symptoms. The effect of these factors on therapeutic responses in AD has only been scarcely studied and not for upadacitinib. Currently, there is no biomarker predicting response to upadacitinib.

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Importance: Safe and effective long-term treatments for adolescents with moderate to severe atopic dermatitis (AD) are limited.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of interleukin-13-targeted treatment with tralokinumab monotherapy in adolescents with AD.

Design, Setting, And Participants: The 52-week, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, phase 3 ECZTRA 6 trial was conducted from July 17, 2018, through March 16, 2021, at 72 centers across 10 countries in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.

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  • Atopic dermatitis commonly starts in childhood and often continues into adolescence and adulthood, creating a significant need for effective treatments in teens.
  • The study evaluated the safety and effectiveness of upadacitinib, a medication for moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis in adolescents aged 12 to 17, through three clinical trials conducted worldwide.
  • Results showed that a larger percentage of adolescents taking upadacitinib (both 15 mg and 30 mg doses) achieved significant improvements in their skin condition compared to those on a placebo after 16 weeks of treatment.
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Background: Patients with severe asthma (SA) experience a high disease burden, often precipitated by exposure to disease triggers.

Objective: To evaluate the prevalence and effects of patient-reported triggers on asthma disease burden in a cohort of subspecialist-treated patients with SA in the United States.

Methods: CHRONICLE is an observational study of adults with SA receiving biologics or maintenance systemic corticosteroids or whose disease is uncontrolled on high-dosage inhaled corticosteroids and additional controllers.

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Aim: Non-attendance at appointments in youth mental health services is a common problem which contributes to reduced service effectiveness and unmet needs. Reasons cited by young people for non-attendance are poorly understood. Information derived from short-message-service (SMS) conversations about appointments between patients and clinicians can uncover new insights about the circumstances leading to 'did not attend' events.

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Background: Dupilumab, a fully human monoclonal antibody, blocks the shared receptor component for interleukin-4 and interleukin-13, key and central drivers of type 2 inflammation. In clinical studies, dupilumab reduced the risk of severe asthma exacerbations, and improved forced expiratory volume in 1 s and quality of life in patients with uncontrolled moderate-to-severe asthma.

Objectives: The objectives of RAPID (NCT04287621) are to characterize patients with asthma initiating dupilumab in routine clinical practice and to collect information on long-term effectiveness and safety in these patients.

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Background: Disease burden is particularly high in Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria (CSU) patients with angioedema, and patients whose signs and symptoms are inadequately controlled by H-antihistamines need new treatment options. Here we report an exploratory analysis, from the ligelizumab Phase 2b study, investigating angioedema occurrence in patients with CSU and describe the changes in angioedema following treatment with ligelizumab, omalizumab, or placebo.

Methods: Data from the ligelizumab Phase 2b core (ligelizumab 72 mg, 240 mg, omalizumab 300 mg and placebo) and extension study (ligelizumab 240 mg) were used.

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  • The study focuses on developing a machine learning model to predict how long it takes for patients with chronic urticaria to achieve clinical remission.
  • It analyzed data from over 112,000 patients, finding that 73.5% achieved remission, typically within about 336 days.
  • The model identified key factors affecting remission time, such as age, diagnosis delays, and comorbidities, and demonstrated a good performance in predictions, indicating its potential usefulness in clinical settings.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) developed the Caregiver Skills Training for Families of Children with Developmental Delays and Disabilities (CST) with support from Autism Speaks to address the resource gaps and worldwide needs for interventions for children with developmental disorders or delays, especially those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and their families. Evidence has indicated that parent-mediated interventions benefit both caregivers and children by strengthening caregivers' knowledge and confidence and children's social communication skills and behavioral regulation. The CST-Taiwan team began the prepilot field trial in 2017 and developed the project to serve families in various locations.

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